


I Mentioned The Red Dress, Right?

by upriserseven



Category: Jane the Virgin (TV)
Genre: AU, F/F, Meet-Cute, Meet-Ugly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-04-02 21:00:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4073698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upriserseven/pseuds/upriserseven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of short meet-cute (and meet-ugly) AUs starring Luisa and Rose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My new dealer has friended me on Facebook and I’m unsure of how to react to that

**Author's Note:**

> This idea originally came from a list of "meet-ugly" scenarios I saw on tumblr, and I may just work my way through [this]() list for the whole series. Mostly an attempt to inject some fun and some cute to these two because, let's face, it can be hard to ship them at times.

“Raf?” The incessant knocking on his door had to wake him up at some point. Luisa didn’t mind waking half the Marbella while she waited. It was 4am and social media was destroying her. “Rafael? Raf, I have a pretty serious issue going on and I really ne-“

“What?” He wasn’t going to be happy. He was already unhappy. Oh God, this was not a big enough issue to wake her brother up at 4am. He was going to kill her. Then again, maybe if he killed her she wouldn’t have to deal with social media ever again and that could actually solve a lot. “Luisa. What is wrong? It’s the middle of the night, this better be good.”

“It’s really not, actually. Go back to bed. I’m sorry. You can help me tomorrow.” She glanced at the laptop resting dangerously on her arm and moved to turn back to her own room next door, only to be stopped in her tracks. 

“I’m up now, you might as well come in.”

It had always been strange, living in a hotel. Luisa and her brother had almost had near identical rooms, and she couldn’t imagine many of her college friends could say the same. Sitting down on her brother’s bed, she instinctively wrapped her white fluffy robe around her before she made eye contact with him.

“First of all, I need you to put some clothes on. I can’t have a conversation with you while you’re in your boxers. At least a t-shirt, please? And then when I do talk to you I’d like you to remember that you asked me to come in here and tell you and I was going to go back next door and ask your opinion about my stupid Facebook problem in the morning.”

“Facebook problem?”

“Yes. Facebook. I told you it was dumb. Put a shirt on.” Luisa waited semi-patiently for Raf to sit next to her before shoving her laptop at him. 

“Who is Rose S and why am I looking at her profile?”

“That would be my dealer.”

“Your dealer?”

“Yeah. Don’t freak out okay it’s nothing hard she just gets me pot or whatever. The main issue here being why is my dealer friending me on Facebook?”

“You cannot accept that request. Ignore. Ignore it now and never look back.” Rafael passed the computer back to his sister, who simply stared at the page in front of her. 

“Right? Thank you. That’s what I thought. Okay. Ignore.” She didn’t move. “Would it hurt to just, like, look through her profile a little do you think? Just out of curiosity. I don’t really know her out of a dealer context.”

“And you shouldn’t.”

“You’re right. You’re totally right. I’m just gonna scroll through her pictures, like, a little bit.”

“Oh my god. You like her. You have a crush on your dealer. Are you cra- what the hell is wrong with you? What kind of person has a crush on their dealer?” No response. Luisa didn’t even look up from the computer or acknowledge him. “Luisa?” Once again, the computer was thrust in his direction, this time displaying a picture of a redheaded girl, probably about the same age as Luisa, in a bikini. A huge grin on her face and a cocktail in one hand, Rose S was looking directly at the camera. Rafael pressed ahead to the next picture: Rose S in a figure-hugging red dress, hair falling down her shoulders and that same huge grin plastered on her face.

“The kind of person who has a crush on their dealer? A person whose dealer looks like this.” She slowly moved the laptop back toward her, interrupting Rafael flicking through Rose’s pictures. “In all honesty, how bad of an idea is it if I accept? What’s the worst that could happen?”


	2. Thor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> loosely based on the prompt: Since I was in a coma a few years back I can talk to animals and now I work in a vet’s office and you keep coming in with your cute golden retriever who keeps telling me all those adorable stories about you and I fell in love but how the hell am i going to tell you this AU from [here](http://floralprintshark.tumblr.com/post/114157836896/fantasy-femslash-aus)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it's been a millions years since the first meet-ugly, I know. I started writing this chapter, according to my computer, in the middle of September 2015. Yesterday I decided to pick it up and finish it. It's completely ridiculous, I know, but I kind of love it anyway don't @ me. Or maybe do, actually. On tumblr @[sinrostros](http://sinrostros.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Probably going to try and pick back up on these and write a bunch more and not leave it another 16 months but like, maybe I'll see you in June 2018.

Luisa knew it was ridiculous, she really did. It had taken long enough for her to believe it, and she’d been so convinced that her family would think she’d started to spiral that she never mentioned it to another soul. Of course, that made it considerably more difficult to explain her sudden decision to drop out of med school and train in veterinary sciences, but the passing of time and graduating top of her class had certainly put her father’s mind at ease. Ridiculousness aside, it had become a simple fact of Luisa’s life by this point: she could talk to animals, and that was that. 

She tried not to use it as a cheat in her work life. It was easier, sometimes, to just ask her animal patients what was wrong with them, where their pains were or if they were being well looked after, but the diagnostician in her still liked the challenge of finding and fixing a problem. Sometimes she did it completely by accident, mumbling under her breath and always, without fail, being shocked when the pet in the room responded but the owner didn’t. 

Her first conversation with Thor had gone that way, the next few had been much more calculated on Luisa’s behalf and eventually he began to initiate the conversations when he padded through her office’s door. 

The beautiful golden retriever had been bought in first at just a few weeks old by a redhead by whom Luisa was half intimidated, half annoyed. He was far too young to be separated from his mother and this alone had panicked the vet, compelling her to take over from her young, uninterested receptionist at the desk. 

“How can we help you today?” she’d asked, probably a little sharper than was entirely professional. 

“I just… I just got this puppy and, honestly, he seems too young to be given away and I was hoping I could get him registered here and you’d be able to check him over?” 

“Of course. I’ll just need to take a few details. Let’s start off simple, what’s the little guy’s name?”

“His name?” The woman in front of her looked flustered for a second. Luisa looked her up and down. A tight red dress, tall heels, and a handbag Luisa guessed probably cost more than she made in a month, nothing about her screamed ‘I’m going to pick up my new puppy.’ “Oh God I hadn’t even thought of a name yet. Give me a minute. I don’t want to say something stupid like Paul and then be stuck with it forever.” She turned the puppy in her arms towards her, and looked him in the eyes for a few moments. Luisa looked on, amused, and waited patiently until eventually, “Thor.”

“Thor?” 

“Thor.” 

“Okay then.” Finishing up the registration gave Luisa a few new facts about the woman, who only became more intriguing to her. Her name was Rose, she learned, and she lived on the other side of town. The rich side of town. This hadn’t particularly shocked Luisa, based on Rose’s wardrobe, but it did leave her questioning why Rose had chosen this vet’s office, of all places. After a while, Luisa took Thor into her examination room and left Rose waiting in reception. It wasn’t necessarily standard practice, but she still wasn’t sure she liked or trusted this woman, and a few minutes apart wouldn’t hurt anyone.

That was her first meeting with Rose and Thor. That was when the puppy had told her Rose had picked him up from a house a few blocks away, a house filled with puppies who were neglected and malnourished. A house full of fleas where he had been scared until Rose had come to see him. She’d been looking for a puppy and responded to an ad she’d seen online. He’d run to her the second she walked in, he told Luisa, and she picked him up and asked if she could take him straight away. Nobody had really protested, despite his age, and Rose had given them some money and left as soon as possible. They’d sat in the car and Rose had searched online for the nearest vet, driven straight there and said the words “you’re going to be okay” to him over and over, petting his head and scratching behind his ear. That was her first meeting with them, and that was when she started to warm up to Rose. 

***

They’d set up regular dates for Thor’s vaccinations, with Luisa prepared to see Rose every three weeks over the next few months. When Thor’s second appointment came around, he was twice the size and clumsily bound into the office on a leash, closely followed by his owner. She’d looked more relaxed, Luisa noted, in a white floral sundress and with something resembling happiness on her face.

“Hey buddy!” Luisa greeted the dog excitedly, amazed at the improvements she saw in him since his last visit. “How are we doing today, huh? You gonna hate me if I take you in there for some shots?”

“Doubtful. I swear, he is the only dog in the world who could get excited when he hears he’s going to the vet. It’s almost like he remembers it’s where he met you.”

“That can only be a good thing, seeing as we’re probably going to be seeing a lot of each other.” Luisa looked up from petting him to find herself being stared at. “Anyway, uh, I should get him in and get started. Did you want to come in or are you happy to wait in here?”

“Oh, I guess I’ll wait out here? I probably don’t need to see him get jabbed with needles.”

That comment alone made Luisa feel butterflies, but she’d gone ahead and asked more about Rose anyway. How had things been, she wanted to know, how was Rose and was she taking good care of him and was he having fun? 

He was having the most amazing time, he told her. Rose was attentive and cuddly and even though she would sometimes be having loud, serious-sounding phone conversations late into the night that he didn’t really understand, she spent most of her free time with him. They played in the garden (he was still too little to go to a dog park, he said, but he was glad for the time alone with her at the moment) and he would sit on the doorstep sometimes watching her swim in her pool. Occasionally she would splash him and he’d bite at the water. They were having a great time. Other times, he’d told Luisa, he would get scared in the night when the shadows played tricks on him or the wind howled too loudly, and Rose would sit with him in his fluffy, oversized dog bed. One night, not long after their first trip to Luisa, she’d sat down on the floor and fallen asleep right there, curled up next to him. He felt safe with Rose. By the end of their second visit, Luisa had not just warmed up to Rose but was starting to feel the same affection for her as she did for her dog. 

***

It was only around the fifth appointment that Rose finally wanted to come into the room. If she was honest, the very idea made her nervous. It wasn’t even that she was nervous she’d somehow be discovered, aware of a bizarre conversation she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to have, but that she was nervous of Rose herself. Each visit with Thor revealed more and more about Rose, and while their own interactions had never gone beyond ‘friendly and potentially jealous of how much my dog loves you’, Luisa had developed what she could only, embarrassingly, refer to as a giant crush on the redhead. Each new story from the excited no-longer-tiny puppy made her heart swell, and made her increasingly curious about Rose’s life.

The loud, serious phone calls were still happening well into the night, and Thor had begun to realise they were happening in at least five different languages. Rose was no longer curling up in bed with him, but instead he was lying in hers (this, Thor said, had been expressly forbidden when first moved in, but Rose told him she missed him when she couldn’t sleep.) He was allowed in the swimming pool now, if he wanted, and Rose didn’t even mind when he splashed a lot. She just laughed and hugged him. Whenever she left the house, she told him she loved him. Once, he told Luisa, he’d been half asleep and Rose had scratched behind his ears and said she was lucky to have the greatest dog ever.

Frankly, it had all become way too much for Luisa, who was now getting butterflies whenever she saw Rose. She started to look forward to Thor’s visits, and it was only partly because she got to see the beautiful puppy. He was fast becoming her favourite patient. 

So when Rose wanted to come into the office, declared that she was now brave enough to see Thor take a needle and perhaps, see what it was about Luisa he loved so much that he got excited to go to the vet, it felt almost impossible that she would actual be able to concentrate on the task at hand. 

“So, how are you today, buddy? You’re so much bigger every time I see you!” Rose looked up at Luisa and smiled, obviously believing she was witnessing Luisa’s fantastic veterinary rapport.

“Yeah, I’m so big now! Rose says I’m growing fast and I’m a really good boy!”

“Such a good boy,” this was going to be tougher than she’d anticipated. She absolutely could not let Rose believe this was anything other than one-sided. Anyone who would ever find out about her gift or whatever would say she was crazy, but for some reason she really couldn’t take that from Rose. “You’re being looked after so well, huh?” 

“So well! I’m so lucky. Rose is great. She really likes you too. I like coming here but she likes it too!”

“Don’t tell anyone but you’re totally my favourite patient. Let’s get your shot over, shall we?” Rose was utterly beaming at her by this point, while Luisa was desperate to ask more about Rose liking her.

“Sure!”

Deciding to direct her attention toward the owner for once (the ridiculously beautiful, still beaming owner. God – that smile was throwing her off) Luisa thought maybe she’d try talking to Rose. “So how’s everything going with you guys? What made you decide you could stand being in the room this time?”

“Everything’s great. Honestly, I was so unsure about getting a puppy but Thor is the best decision I ever made. He’s such a sweetheart.” She stopped to pet Thor’s head gently while she pondered Luisa’s other question. “And… I’m not sure. A friend of mine thought it was really weird that he likes coming to the vet. I guess I wanted to watch you in action and see what kind of magic touches you have.” She’d turned beet red during her last sentence and Luisa couldn’t help but smile at how endearing Rose could be. She’d always seemed to have a certain charm but more the kind of charm you’d find in someone remarkably sensible and grown-up and off limits. This Rose had the appeal of a girl you meet at a flower stall and fall in love with, all sweet smiles and soft laughs. 

“She likes you. That’s why she came in today.” Luisa almost jumped when the puppy spoke up, trying hard not to let on that anything was out of the ordinary. Carrying on with Thor’s injections, she tried to gesture to him to say more, hoping that she could also effectively communicate non-verbally with animals. Something must have worked because he continued. 

“I heard her on the phone. Not like her usual loud phone calls, there’s a lot less of those now. But a nice phone call, she was laughing and sounded really happy. She said she had to go soon because we were coming here and she wanted to look nice. I guess whoever she was talking to thought that was weird because she said that she knew people don’t dress up fancy to go to the vet but they do if they think the vet is really pretty. Or something. She kept talking about how you’re so nice and so pretty and I told you she likes you!”  
Luisa, absolutely certain she was an unflattering shade of crimson, scratched Thor behind the ears, giving him a small break before his second injection. 

“How, uh” she cleared her throat before starting again, blushing even harder and hoping that Rose didn’t notice her voice breaking, “how’s his routine? All pretty regular? Like, are your work days pretty much the same length every day, things like that?”

“Oh, yeah! I’m my own boss so I work out all my own days, really, unless I’m in court. I’m a lawyer! That’s, that’s why I’d be in court.” Rose smiled at her and Luisa wondered if her skin would ever return to its usual colour. “So, yes. Unless I have to be in court or court runs long, we have a very regular schedule. We go on two walks a day, sometimes more if he’s feeling restless, we play out back, we swim. Sometimes we go to the beach or dog parks but he’s a little shy of other dogs, so I’m trying to ease him in slowly. I think it might be because of where he was when I found him, you know, surrounded by all of those other dogs, all just fighting for food and attention.” At this point she stopped, and hugged Thor. “Sorry, I’m rambling. The point is that we have a very regular schedule and I think he’s doing really well.”

“He really is. It looks like you’re a great pair, too. I have to admit, I’m pretty sad that next time is our last regular appointment. As a vet, I really hope I don’t have to see much of you after then, for his sake, but I’m not-so-secretly hoping you’ll still drop by every now and again. I’m gonna miss seeing you. Both of you.” She swallowed hard, completely mortified and embarrassed that she may have just made a complete fool of herself. Before Rose even had the chance to say anything, she got the next needle ready. “Alright, little dude. Last one, okay?”

“Okay.” They said it in unison, sounding just as miserable as each other. 

The rest of the appointment had been quiet. Either Luisa had made things really awkward or they were both as sad as she was that their regular meetings were about to end. Sure, there were still check-ups to be had, but they were only every 6 months and technically optional. And then there would be the neutering, although she’d chosen not to mention that in front of Thor. She would still see them both, unless Rose made the decision to switch to a vet much nearer to home. They made their formal appointment for the next and last jab, and Luisa spent the next few weeks trying not to think about the redhead and golden retriever that had screwed just about everything up. 

***

“Oh, Dr Alver? I’m on the phone with Rose Ruvelle, Thor’s owner? They’re running a little late and she says she completely understands if we need to reschedule the appointment or give it away.” 

“Oh, uh…” trying to mask her disappointment and jump into logical adult mode was proving to be far more difficult that it should have been. “Well is my next appointment here yet? With Lola?” She knew perfectly well that the Border Collie’s owners were always at least twenty minutes early. 

“Yep, they’re sitting out front already.”

“Great, I’ll see them early and you can tell Ms. Ruvelle that she and Thor have a slightly later slot.” 

It wasn’t even necessarily that she had been looking forward to seeing the two of them (although she definitely had been looking forward to it) but that she’d been building up to the idea of trying to find out a little more about what Thor had said last time. Try as she might, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Rose had said she was pretty, which in itself had made her so excited she felt thirteen again, and she’d been making an effort, trying her hardest to make sure she looked good on their visits. The thought alone had been distracting Luisa for three weeks, trying to work out what it all meant. Thor had never mentioned anyone else at the house, leaving Luisa to assume that Rose was single, and if she’d talked casually on the phone about Luisa, she had to think that maybe Rose wasn’t straight. Was it completely inappropriate to ask Rose out? That had been the question on Luisa’s mind since they parted, and she’d decided that it was now or never. So she couldn’t, she absolutely couldn’t, have Thor’s appointment rescheduled. Maybe she would chicken out today anyway, but given any more time to think about it, it was a definite. 

“I am so sorry we’re late! Traffic was completely horrendous. Thank you so much for finding a way to still fit us in today.” Luisa greeted Thor while a flustered Rose apologised around four times in the space of a minute.

“It’s no problem, really. The appointment that was supposed to be after you was luckily occupied by early birds so I just switched you guys around.” 

“A real bird or…?”

“A dog, actually.” Rose suddenly looked embarrassed, “no! No but that’s funny. Sorry, I guess I should think about my phrasing better. You guys on your way somewhere?” Luisa nodded at the box Rose was holding somewhat awkwardly in her arm.

“Huh? Oh, no! This is for you, actually. It’s kind of a thank you gift, from both of us.”

“You really didn’t have to…”

“Really. If you knew how awful that first day was, and how scared I was for this little guy… Coming here, meeting you and knowing I didn’t have to worry because you’d help me take care of him? It made it all so much easier. So we wanted to get you something.” 

“Well, thank you. Both of you. I assume this was both of your ideas?”

“Oh, of course. Thor even chipped in half the money. He really likes you.” 

It was easy, Luisa thought. She would’ve doubted it on that first day, but it was so easy now to have light conversation with Rose, to smile. Yes, she got butterflies every time the redhead smiled at her but it’s not like that was a bad thing. They made their way to the office, Rose choosing again to come in with them, and although Luisa would admit to being a little sad that she wouldn’t get to ask Thor any more questions, she was glad to keep Rose around for a little longer. 

“So, how’s everything been?” 

“Great!” They answered in unison again and Luisa laughed. 

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Sorry. So, all good?” 

“Uh, yeah. Great. We’ve been to the beach a couple more times, he seems to be doing a lot better with the other dogs we’ve seen there, which is really great, right? That he’s working through that?”

“Really great. Good job, buddy.”

“Thanks!” Thor was getting an ear scratched by each of them and looked positively blissful. “She’s really sad we’re not gonna see you again soon. She’s gonna miss you. I’m gonna miss you too, but I think she’s gonna miss you even more.” 

“I’m pretty sure this is why so many vets I know have their own dogs, so they can try and bump into their favourite patients and dog parks and out and about on walks.” She smiled at Rose, but kept scratching Thor’s ear, hoping they’d both sense how genuine she was. 

“Do you have any pets at all?” Not quite the reaction she’d been hoping for. 

“I don’t, actually. Honestly, I feel like it wouldn’t be fair to them. I wouldn’t like the idea that my owner was spending the whole day with other animals while I was home alone.” Admittedly, hoping that Rose would jump straight in with an offer to hang out with the two of them had been ridiculous, but Luisa couldn’t help but be somewhat disappointed that it hadn’t happened. “Still, it means I don’t have a dog to walk or take to the park on weekends, so sometimes the little selfish part of me wants to get one. They’re the best company, but I guess I don’t need to tell you that. Sorry, I’m rambling. We should probably get going with these final injections, let you guys get out of here.” 

“Neither one of us is going to be especially happy about that, you know? I’m a little sad you don’t have a dog, or I guess I could’ve hoped we’d run in to you some time too.”

“I think maybe it’s a little weird if I start hanging out at dog parks and beaches on my own all the time.” She wasn’t sure how she’d turned this around but she was leaving it basically impossible for her to ask Rose out and practically begging Rose to make the move. Embarrassed, and very aware of Rose’s small smile at her joke, she turned toward Thor, who was staring at her with his beautiful brown eyes, and pulled out the first needle. 

“Here we go little dude, you mind if I get started?” She smiled at him, knowing that it was one of the few questions she could ask without Rose thinking she’d totally lost it. 

“Nope!” She continued with their first injection of the day, only just noticing how Rose closed her eyes and turned her head away, just for a second, all the while stroking Thor softly to keep him calm. 

“He’s very lucky to have you.” 

“I could say the same about you, really.” 

She gave Thor his moment before the next needle, her mind desperately scrambling for something to say to Rose. She had to just do it. 

“Okay, I have to ask you something…”

“Oh? Okay, go ahead.”

“This is completely inappropriate, I know, so I figure it’s the best time to ask you because, you know, if you’re really unhappy about it, I don’t have to see you for a while anyway or I suppose you could even switch vets or, actually maybe the very worst you could do would be report me. This is a very stupid idea but now I’ve started saying it out loud so it’s pretty tough to stop.” She opened one of her eyes, not really realising until this moment that she’d closed them, and looked at Rose, who, incredibly, did not look at all uncomfortable but was smiling brightly at Luisa. 

“I’m fairly certain that there’s nothing you could ask me that would make me unhappy enough to report you, Luisa.” It was that softness, teamed with the realisation that Rose had called her by her first name (or, more accurately, the realisation that she had never called her by her first name before. And that could not possibly be an accident) that made Luisa that little bit braver. 

“Would you, maybe like to see each other outside of my office sometime? Not necessarily just for walks with Thor” she looked at the retriever and smiled, “although that would be great, sorry buddy. But maybe just, coffee? Or dinner?” 

“She wants to. She really wants to.” 

“I’d love to. I’m not so sure that he’d let me get you alone, though.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, he loves you.”

“No.” She laughed and scratched Thor’s head. “I mean, you’d really like go out with me?” 

“Of course. In fact, when we leave and you open your gift, it’ll prove it.” 

“Great!” She paused for a second, the two of grinning at each other like idiots, each with a hand on Thor, before she remembered why they were even here. “I should probably do this last injection. Here we go dude, no more needles for a while after this.”

The two of them left Luisa armed with Rose’s number (which, admittedly, she could’ve grabbed anyway from Thor’s file but this felt much more like a victory) and promising she’d call. She was just trying to work out when it would be appropriate and not so desperate to call, trying to push aside the bizarre issue of ‘if this works out, at what point do I tell her about the secret conversations I’ve had with her dog?’ when she remembered the gift still sitting in her office, and the comment Rose had made about it. 

Opening the box, she found not just her gift, but two cards. She opened the largest of the two. 

 

_Luisa,_

_This is by far the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done but you’ve been so great that you absolutely deserved a little something to show our appreciation._

_Thanks for helping me take care of him and most importantly, not letting him end up with the name Paul._

_He’s absolutely enamoured with you and I think I’d be lying if I said he was the only one._

_Just in case I don’t work up the courage today, I’m going to write my number at the bottom of the card… would you maybe like to have dinner some time?_

_If not, we’ll see you in a few months for the dreaded neutering and we’ll see if he still thinks you’re the world’s greatest human after that._

_If I did manage to ask you out during the appointment today and you said yes, I’ll see you very soon. If you said no, thank you for (hopefully!) being very nice about it?_

_Either way, thank you for everything._

_Rose._


End file.
